The Men Who Stole the World
What happened to the minds behind Napster, Gnutella, WinAmp, and BitTorrent after their creations irrevocably changed business and culture.
Great articles, every Saturday.
What happened to the minds behind Napster, Gnutella, WinAmp, and BitTorrent after their creations irrevocably changed business and culture.
Lev Grossman Time Nov 2010 10min Permalink
The prosecutor in the case of hacker turned F.B.I. informant (but still hacker) Albert Gonzales and his organization Shadowcrew : “The sheer extent of the human victimization caused by Gonzalez and his organization is unparalleled.”
James Verini New York Times Magazine Nov 2010 Permalink
The perpetually underpaid author takes a moonlighting job with Demand Media, publisher of search-engine optimized articles with titles like “Hair Styles for Women Over 50 With Glasses”, absurdity ensues.
Jessanne Collins The Awl Nov 2010 10min Permalink
Many experts believe it’s inevitable that in the coming decades, humans will figure out how to live considerably longer lives. It might not be a good thing.
Charles C. Mann The Atlantic May 2005 20min Permalink
An early attempt to explain the world-changing power of computer software—and the minds of young programmers like Bill Gates—to a mass audience. “Software,” the article begins, “is the magic carpet to the future.”
Michael Moritz, Peter Stoler Time Apr 1984 Permalink
Best Article Science Tech World
How two Italian teenagers hacked the Soviet space program and may have heard the dying breaths of a lost cosmonaut.
Kris Hollington Fortean Times Jul 2008 Permalink
Are we at war? The U.S. government’s evolving response to cyber security and its impact on privacy.
Seymour Hersh New Yorker Nov 2010 25min Permalink
Diapers.com has a stripped-down business model, a massive warehouse staffed by robots, and a legitimate chance to outsell Amazon.
Bryant Urstadt Businessweek Oct 2010 Permalink
How the mind behind Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto plans to push gaming further.
David Kushner GamePro Jul 2010 Permalink
Can real activism happen on Twitter and Facebook? Malcolm Gladwell says no.
Malcolm Gladwell New Yorker Oct 2010 15min Permalink
A 2006 profile of Mark Zuckerberg as Facebook opened from a college-only site to a public social network.
John Cassidy New Yorker May 2006 30min Permalink
The writer (Aaron Sorkin), director (David Fincher), and actors (Jesse Eisenberg & Justin Timberlake) of The Social Network on dramatizing the real story of a 20 year old into “the Citizen Kane of John Hughes movies.”
Mark Harris New York Sep 2010 25min Permalink
A new strain of educational thought (and practice) involves embracing the technology of the moment - which means bringing video games into the classroom.
Sara Corbett New York Times Magazine Sep 2010 30min Permalink
Movies about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have failed to connect with viewers, but video games on the topic have broken sales records.
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, on the eve of the release of The Social Network, believed to be a deeply unflattering portrait of him and the genesis of his company.
Jose Antonio Vargas New Yorker Sep 2010 25min Permalink
A 2009 profile of the guy behind 4chan, Christoper “moot” Poole, his anonymous army of millions, and how it’s all losing him money.
Monica Hesse Washington Post Feb 2009 10min Permalink
How Madden NFL went from a programmer’s childhood dream to a $3 billion business.
Patrick Hruby ESPN Jul 2010 30min Permalink
When spouses get upset because their husband or wife wants to be frozen upon death, it’s not because they find the practice sacrilegious. It’s because their partner is consciously considering a future without them.
Kerry Howley New York Times Magazine Jul 2010 10min Permalink
An early 1995 peek at what happens when secretive groups meet the Internet: a Scientology Usenet group, populated by believers and critics, stirs conflict that results in raids.
Wendy M. Grossman Wired Dec 1995 20min Permalink
Clay Shirky, writing in 1999 on the Web eclipsing TV’s reach: “We will always have massive media, but the days of mass media are over, killed by the explosion of possibility and torn into a thousand niches.”
Clay Shirky Feed Apr 1999 10min Permalink
It’s the furthest artificial intelligence has come. And while the supercomputer may get attention for competing on Jeopardy!, Watson could also change everything from customer service to emergency rooms.
Clive Thompson New York Times Magazine Jun 2010 25min Permalink
Buckminster Fuller reconsidered.
Elizabeth Kolbert New Yorker Jun 2008 15min Permalink
“The problem is I’m older now, I’m 40 years old, and this stuff doesn’t change the world. It really doesn’t.” –Steve Jobs, 1996
Foursquare and Gowalla are in a VC-funded race to become the dominant location-based social network. But their founders say both companies have a larger purpose.
Neal Pollack Wired (UK) Jun 2010 Permalink
In the wake of 9/11, terrorist networks moved their recruitment and training efforts online, giving birth to Jihad-geeks like Irhabi_007.
Nadya Labi The Atlantic Jul 2006 15min Permalink